The government will scrap the current university access target and replace it with a plan for two-thirds of young people to get “higher-level skills”, Sir Keir Starmer has announced.
The prime minister told the Labour Party conference that he will introduce a new target for two-thirds of young people to go to university or further education or do a “gold-standard apprenticeship” by the age of 25.
This broader target for what Labour has described collectively as “higher-level skills” will replace the target for 50 per cent of young people to go to university.
Sir Keir said he no longer believed in this target, which was set by former Labour prime minister Tony Blair in 1999.
The move has been welcomed by school unions, with the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) saying that colleges have for far too long been “underfunded and unsung”.
University access target dropped
Sir Keir said in Liverpool today: “Conference, while you will never hear me denigrate the aspiration to go to university, I don’t think the way we currently measure success in education - that ambition to get 50 per cent of kids to uni - I don’t think that’s right for our times, because if you’re a kid or a parent of a kid who chooses an apprenticeship, what does it say to you?
“Do we genuinely, as a country, afford them the same respect?”
He went on to say that “I can announce we will scrap that target and replace it with a new ambition that two-thirds of our children should go either to university or take a gold-standard apprenticeship”.
To support reform, the government said it will invest nearly £800 million in extra funding to help 16- to 19-year-olds next year. The funding will come from the existing Spending Review settlement, Labour said, and will support 20,000 more students.
The new target also includes an ambition for 10 per cent of young people to be pursuing higher technical education or apprenticeships that the economy needs by 2040.
In addition, the prime minister announced 14 new “technical excellence colleges”, which will focus on sectors such as advanced manufacturing, clean energy and digital technology.
There will be further details on the pledge in the upcoming post-16 skills White Paper.
‘Qualifications linked to jobs’
Sir Keir said that Labour has “backed” young people with its education policy announcements during the party’s Liverpool conference.
He said: “I can also announce that further education - so long a Cinderella service, ignored because politicians’ kids don’t go there - we will make it a defining cause for this Labour government, with higher standards in every college. The quality of teaching? Raised.
“More apprenticeships, more technical colleges - technical excellence colleges - qualifications linked to jobs, rooted in their communities.”
He added: “The class ceiling? Smashed. The grafters? Finally included in our country’s highest aspirations.”
Pepe Di’Iasio, general secretary of the ASCL, welcomed the moves. “For far too long our colleges have been the forgotten heroes of the education system - underfunded and unsung - while providing vital skills and training to hundreds of thousands of young people,” he said.
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the NAHT school leaders’ union, said: “We have long argued that while university education is, of course, a great option for many students, it isn’t the only route to a fulfilling career for young people.
“For some, training, apprenticeships or employment better suit their needs and ambitions. Yet for too long these career paths have not been prioritised, so we welcome the prime minister’s ambition to address this.”
He added: “However, it is important that this is supported not only by funding but also by changes to ensure our school curriculum and assessment landscape works for all students.
“The offer from schools has been warped by government policies, including the publication of narrow, high-stakes performance measures, and the exclusion of creative and cultural subjects from the EBacc has led to a reduction in pupils taking these subjects. Not only does the EBacc have the effect of narrowing the curriculum in Years 10 and 11 but the effects can be seen in sixth-form and college choices, too.”
Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the NEU, said the teaching union was disappointed that the prime minister did not announce an “injection of funding” for schools to counteract budget cuts.
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